Table 4:
Women Veterans’ reasons for non-use of a stated ideal method
| Reasons for non-use of ideal method | Frequency (%)* |
|---|---|
| Modifiable | 78 (23) |
| Access issues | 38 (11) |
| Cost | 19 (6) |
| Provider barrier | 14 (4) |
| Need (more) information | 20 (6) |
| Non-modifiable | 267 (79) |
| Using another method | 95 (28) |
| Pregnancy plans/goals conflict with | 62 (18) |
| ideal method use | |
| Partner influence | 55 (16) |
| Concern for side effects | 23 (7) |
| Contraindication to ideal method | 14 (4) |
| Ideal method inconvenient | 11 (3) |
| Ideal method not necessary in current relationship context | 11 (3) |
| Lack of permanent sexual partner | 7 (2) |
| Not sexually active (enough) | 7 (2) |
| General fear re: ideal method | 5 (2) |
| Perceived subfertility | 1 (0.3) |
| Non-specific reason | 14 (4) |
| In process of obtaining ideal | 11 (3) |
*
n=340 women with ideal-current mismatch who provided an open-ended reason for current non-use of their stated ideal contraceptive method (83% of n=409 women with mismatch). Percentages do not add to 100% because codes were not mutually exclusive; 278 responses were assigned a single code (82%), 57 responses were double-coded (17%), and 5 responses had three codes (2%).